The future of the Fremantle Business District-BID is in doubt after the FPOL Committee of Fremantle last night approved the Destination Marketing Fremantle concept, which will see the additional differential rates CBD businesses pay go to the marketing department budget and no longer to BID.

It is very doubtful BID will be able to continue without funding from the City of Fremantle, although several councillors mentioned that there was a need for something like BID and that is had done grassroots work well.

There were public speakers in support of continuing BID and others supporting the new destination marketing strategy, but the consensus of the elected members was that a new marketing approach is needed and that BID was not the way forward.

Supporters for BID said BID was a lifeline and a voice for small retailers and that BID had businesses working together for the first time. That is true and nothing stops traders from continuing to work together in a kind of precinct format, I believe, so not all is lost and the good momentum BID created could continue.

BID wanted another 12 months extension and believed it could become self funding, but they had already been granted the extension and could not show they were raising enough money to be able to continue without council giving them the differential rates.

Councillors said this was not a debate about BID versus the destination marketing strategy but if Council wanted a new marketing approach for the city. It is not either or, Councillor Andrew Sullivan said. He also said the City needed to support the concept of BID and offer more support for retailers.

Councillor Rachel Pemberton said that we needed to acknowledge the incredible work BID had done and that BID was always about collaboration and grassroots level liaising with businesses, and that can continue.

Councillors agreed the City needed to try something different as the present marketing is not working and businesses are not happy with it.

Councillor Doug Thompson wanted to know before the item goes to full council next week who the marketing experts would be the marketing department wants on a panel of experts.

Councillor and FPOL chair Hannah Fitzhardinge said clarity had been lacking about what BID does and what the marketing department does.

I want to make one point that gets ignored at the Freo City marketing department and that is the lack of information the City sends out to tourist destinations in the city. More often than not the tourist guides at the Roundhouse are not informed about festivals and events, so they can’t send tourists to them. We have never had a poster or leaflets for example to promote the Winter Festival and other events that happen on the Esplanade. We have begged for info about the Hidden Treasures music festival, Street Arts Festival, etc.etc. We can’t even tell tourists what’s on at the Fremantle Arts Centre.

There is also no communication between the tourist destinations, so Roundhouse volunteers don’t know about special exhibitions or events at the Maritime Museum, Fremantle Prison, etc. That needs to be coordinated by the City’s marketing department and could be as easy as emailing a short list of what is on next week. It’s very good to get more people visiting Fremantle, but we need to be able to keep them here longer and tell them what else they can do.

The Fremantle Passenger Terminal at Victoria Quay will get a $ 3 million facelift this year with works starting this month.

There have been complaints from passengers and cruise ship operators about the heritage building which was built in 1960 and refurbished about twenty years ago.

The McGowan government will erect a new large canopy over the entrance to provide shade and shelter from the elements, the building will be painted and permanent screens will be put in front of the large windows.

According to the Fremantle Ports ‘shipping movement’ this morning the Queen Mary II was scheduled to departure at 5.30pm, but after an hour and a half of waiting the cruise liner had not moved from berth. It turned out when I got home that the new departure time is 10.30pm instead.

But my waiting on the South Mole was not in vain as I got a nice shot of the Astor and QM II together and Astor leaving port just before sunset.

The cruise ship season has started in Fremantle again and tomorrow morning at approximately 8 am the Ovation of the Seas will visit our city with 4,000 passengers on board.

The vessel is one of the largest in the world and has features like a skating rink, bumper cars, a flight simulator, a wave park and robot bartenders.

The Royal Caribbean liner is the fifth largest in the world and the largest cruise ship ever to visit Australia, so it will be an impressive sight to see her entering and leaving port. Departure is at 5 pm.

WA Premier Mark McGowan announced on board the Sea Princess cruise liner in Fremantle port today the state government’s $ 7 million commitment to upgrade WA ports so they can better accommodate cruise ships.

This will allow Carnival Australia’s Sun Princess cruise ship to have her home port in Fremantle from next year.

According to the Premier that’s 400 jobs for Western Australians, and around $135 million for the WA economy.

Mc Gowan said that we want people from all over the world to visit WA and cruise ships are an important component of our plans to boost tourism and create WA jobs.

The Pacific Eden cruiseliner floated into Fremantle Port this morning and since the P&O Line has announced they will no longer call Freo home, I thought to capture this historic moment of one of the last P&O cruiseships in Fremantle.

The announcement by Australia’s largest cruiseship company Carnival Cruises that it no longer will use Fremantle Port as a home port for their cruises is a disaster for Fremantle and will come at a high cost to the local economy.

No P&O superliners will be based in Fremantle any more and that means that the number of cruises out of Fremantle will go down from 60 cruises during the 2016/17 season to only 17 during the 2018/19 season.

This will no doubt have a negative impact on retailers and the hospitality industry in Fremantle and that is hugely disappointing.

Carnival Cruises say that issues with WA Ports such as Geraldton, Broome and Exmouth are to blame and new WA Tourism Minister Paula Papalia says that outdated facilities at the Fremantle Passenger Terminal are also responsible for the pull out.

Passengers arriving or boarding in Fremantle have to pull their luggage for miles on either side of the railway line, rain or shine, to and from the railway station or inner city accommodation.

Now before anyone starts bleating and blame Fremantle Council for this, it has nothing to do with them but with State Governments of the past not being pro-active enough to relocate the passenger terminal closer to B Shed and the railway station.

Fremantle Council has suggested improvements for many years and does have significant plans for development of Victoria Quay with their South Quay Project, but it needs to be supported by the WA government and Fremantle Port, and that has not been forthcoming.

Mayor Brad Pettitt said: “It would be a serious blow to Fremantle retailers if we were to see a decline in the number of cruise ships coming to Fremantle. They play an important role in bringing more tourists not only to Fremantle but the whole of Perth.

While I understand a lot of the concerns are facilities in Broome, Geraldton and Exmouth, there is also a legitimate concern as to the experience passengers have when they arrive in Fremantle. Arriving in the middle of giant car park and a sea of cars is hardly inviting and I know many of us cringe when we see often elderly people pulling suitcases in the hot sun towards the Fremantle CBD.

But as they say where there is a crisis there is an opportunity. This will hopefully see a stronger focus on improvements to South Quay. The new ALP State Government have pleasingly made this one of their election commitments and I am looking forward to bring this to reality as soon as possible.”

The Ovation of the Seas, the largest cruise liner to sail into Australia arrived in Fremantle around 6.30 am this morning to the delight of the many onlookers on the North and South moles and Victoria Quay.

The brand-new ship is the fourth-biggest cruise ship in the world and is worth around $ 1 billion. It was launched in April this year.

It has 2090 rooms for 4900 passengers and is 348 metres long.

This season around 60 cruise ships will arrive in Fremantle Port and boosting the WA economy.